


metamorphosis

by littleb0d



Category: Lucifer (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol, Eldritch Abominations, Interdimensional Nonsense, Light Dom/sub, Multi, Norse Mythology - Freeform, Not Canon Compliant, Original Character-centric, Original Disabled Character(s) - Freeform, Original Nonbinary Character(s) - Freeform, Outrageous Flirting, Porn with Feelings, Teasing, Threesome - F/F/M, Underage Drinking, disability feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:34:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26042773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleb0d/pseuds/littleb0d
Summary: God falls out of sky. Girl befriends god, despite everyone saying that’s a Bad Idea. The god is Loki. The girl (debatable at this point) is me.My name is Raven Montgomery, I’m twenty years old, and the most important person in my life happens to be the god of chaos.This is the story of how he set me up with the Devil and the three of us against the apocalypse.
Relationships: Loki (Marvel) & Original Nonbinary Character(s), Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV)/Loki (Marvel)/Original Nonbinary Character(s), Past Loki/Stephen Strange
Kudos: 9





	1. city of sin

God falls out of sky. Girl befriends god, despite everyone saying that’s a Bad Idea. The god is Loki. The girl (debatable at this point) is me. 

My name is Raven Montgomery, I’m twenty years old, and my best friend is the god of mischief.

And this is the story of how he set me up with the Devil.

— — —

Picture the scene: Los Angeles in all its sparkling hedonistic glory, the city of angels, or the city of sin, depending on who you ask. And then there’s me, the kid in the wheelchair with dark hair and mismatched eyes, and there’s Loki, lean and blue-eyed, looking incredible in a suit. We were on our way to a club, because that’s what you do in LA, regardless of your ability. It was my first time doing something like this, and my hand was clammy on my joystick. “Are you sure this place is accessible?” I asked, feeling like a broken record.

“The owner is completely aware of our needs, I assure you.”

“Right, good. You still haven’t told me his name, by the way.” 

“You’ll meet him soon enough,” he said with a sly smile.

I swerved around a pedestrian more interested in their phone than landing in my lap. “I hate waiting,” I muttered. Loki knew this. The whole world knew this. 

We walked on a bit further, and I watched the lights dance across the throngs of people. They all looked expensive and stylish, as if cut from a fashion magazine. Perfect teeth and perfect hair. Walking fortunes. I felt out of place in my black jeans and Nirvana T-shirt, but Loki had insisted that no one would have a problem with it. Knowing him, they wouldn’t have a choice.

We crossed the road when the lights changed, like good law-abiding citizens, and I tried not to stare at the limo parked nearby. I was cool, I was confident, I was not going to objectify that woman’s nice legs or that man’s toned bottom. This was going to be fine.

And then we rounded the corner and there it was. Lux. Most notorious nightclub in LA. Anyone who was anyone was lined up outside, eager to get in. Everyone was primed and pristine, eager to become one of the cool kids if they weren’t already. The queue stretched on, and I had an excuse fired up, ready to go. “It’s too long, let’s come back another time—” I started to say, but Loki simply cut through, parting the crowds like the Red Sea and beckoned me to follow. I blushed and stared at my knees as the mob tittered to itself. I did as I was told, never wanting to make a scene. 

Loki whispered something to the bouncer and he let us inside. The bouncer raised his eyebrow a millimetre at me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. I always do.

My snide remark dried on my lips when I saw the place. I didn’t have enough eyes to take it in, the lights, the music, the people (so many beautiful people). The heady scent of alcohol and sweat and breath and bodies rubbing up against each other. Bass thrumming under my skin. “Fuck,” I whispered to no one in particular. Loki smiled wolfishly at me, leaning against the railings of the spiral stairs leading into the fray. Thankfully a platform lift had been set up as well, complete with a toned young man to operate it. 

Loki took the stairs as I descended in the lift. The neon lights swirled around me, swirled over the dancers’ bodies, and then I was in the middle of it all. I dimly registered the gate clicking open and I wheeled out, but my eyes were glued to the ceiling — how did I end up in a place like this? My chest fluttered, a mixture of excitement and nerves. This was on the very edge of forbidden.

I followed Loki in a daze, eyes jumping from one thing to the next. Champagne bubbles, lines of cocaine, skin. So much skin. Before I knew it, I was laughing, I couldn’t help it. I felt so  _ free _ . “That’s more like it,” said Loki, taking the lead once more. He carved a path to a round table near the piano and made a space for my chair. I smiled, he always had my back. Funny, considering he’s the god of lies. 

He sat opposite me, looking seriously for a moment. “If it gets too much, just tell me and I’ll get you out of here.”

I nodded. “Sure thing, Frosty.”

He rolled his eyes. “Do you want a drink, O Tiny One?”

“I thought you had to be twenty-one here.”

Loki gestured around him. “Does it look like they’ll care?”

“Good point.”

“So?”

“Get me something that doesn’t taste like alcohol.”

Loki nodded and I watched him disappear into the crowd like an emerald phantom.

A few minutes later, the mob quieted down slightly as a man took up the piano. It was hard to tell how old he was, he had an ageless charm about him, simultaneously old-fashioned yet living in the moment. Dark eyes, dark hair, a dab of stubble, a dangerous smile. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. He wasn’t just electric, he was the power source.

I watched his hands dance across the keys and wondered— Loki coughed, shattering the fantasy. He slid a sunset-coloured cocktail over to me, raising an eyebrow. “What were you staring at?” His tone suggested he already knew the answer. I nodded towards the man on the piano. “Ah, I see,” said Loki, “He’s the owner.”

“What’s his name?”

“Lucifer Morningstar.”

I choked on my drink. “What.”

“Yes, he’s the Devil.” Loki grinned.

“As in, the  _ actual  _ Devil?” I spluttered.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” said a new voice behind me. Smooth and seductive. I turned around. It was him. My face burst into flames. He just smiled and slid into the chair next to me. “Lucifer Morningstar,” he said, “At your service.” The way he said  _ service  _ sent shivers down my spine. “Raven Montgomery,” I said, because that’s my name and that’s how you introduce yourself to people, no matter how gorgeous they might be. I held out my hand for him to shake, only for him to brush it with his lips. My face was going to melt right off at this rate. I mentally fumbled around for something witty to say, but was met with static. “And yes,” said Lucifer, “I am the Devil.”

“You’re, uh, really good at piano,” I said, pulling my hand away.

“I should hope so. I was there when the first chords were played.” I swear it was like everything he said was a double entendre. I looked around for Loki, but he had slithered off again. 

“So what’s a guy like you doing in a place like this?” I said, with more confidence than I felt. 

“I was bored of down there, I needed a change. I could ask the same of you.” He sipped his whiskey, surveying me with deep brown eyes. A smile pulled at his lips.

I shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “I want to get out more.” 

He leaned towards me, eyes sparkling in the neon lights. “What do you desire?”

“You.” I didn’t miss a beat. 

And then I realised what I said.

“Oh, er, you know…” I back-pedalled frantically. “World peace.”

“That’s what they all say.” I had a feeling he wasn’t referring to world peace. “Now, what do you  _ truly _ desire?”

My heart leapt into my throat. “Sex. I swear if I don’t get laid soon, I might explode.”  _ What the hell was I saying? _

“Well… I’m sure I could help you with that.”

“Excuse me?” I croaked and stared at the table so I wouldn’t have to look into those eyes and spill everything to him. He crooked a finger under my chin so I had to meet his gaze. My head spun, drunk on this man’s presence and his way with words and the way he looked as if he was about to devour me whole, clothes and all. And I wanted him to. I wanted him to bend me over that piano and, and— no, I had to get a hold of myself. He was probably just humouring me, or he was like this with everyone. I was no one special. 

He brushed his finger along my jaw and said, “I can see why Loki is so fond of you.”

“You hardly know me.” I didn't pull away. 

“But I know  _ of _ you.”

“Not the same thing.”

He chuckled. “Feisty, aren’t you? I like that.”

I rolled my eyes at him on impulse, or maybe it was the alcohol taking hold. “You’re so smug. Has anyone punched you for that?”

“Many have tried.”

Something snapped inside me and then I was kissing him in a lust-drunk haze. He tasted like whiskey and sex and damnation. He made a pleasantly surprised noise against my lips and returned the favour. It was like flicking a switch, as all my inhibitions melted away, swiftly replaced with white-hot desire. I only stopped when I felt my lungs about to give out. “I don’t know where that came from,” I admitted with a nervous laugh.

“We all have our desires, my dear.” He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. 

At that precise moment, Loki decided to come back. He looked between me and Lucifer, eyebrows raised. “Have I interrupted something?”

“No, no, everything’s fine. Completely normal.” I refused to look anyone in the eye. I thought maybe I had Loki convinced, or at least he wouldn’t embarrass me further. “Anyway…” I started to say, until Lucifer brushed my shin with the tip of his foot. It took me completely off guard even though I should have seen it coming a mile off. The rest of my sentence trailed off into a barely stifled gasp. My face heated up as every sexual thought I could possibly conceive jumped to the forefront of my mind.

“Can we go somewhere… with less people?” I managed to croak out, feeling trapped between Loki’s iron gaze and Lucifer’s blatant flirting. 

“I know just the place,” said Lucifer.

“Lead on,” Loki replied so I didn’t have to. 

I ignored the nagging feeling that this had all been organised.

The lift up to the penthouse wasn’t the smallest one I’d ever been in, but the tension made it feel half the size. Lucifer was still looking at me like a cat who not only got the cream but the whole cow to go with it; which wasn’t unusual by now, but Loki… he had an echo of that in his eyes too and that tugged at something I had pushed down for a long, long time. I’d always sort of fancied him, but it was such a far-fetched notion that it never really affected me. And now he was centimetres away, next to the Devil himself, who I had kissed just moments ago, and all I could think about was tangling my fingers in his hair. 

The doors opened and I reversed out, craving to put distance between us as if that could stop the thoughts churning in my head. I went over to a cabinet filled with all sorts of ancient trinkets and books. It went in one ear and out the other. I kept thinking about the deities behind me. It was all so very wrong, I kept telling myself.  _ One is your closest friend, and the other is the actual Devil. This is a terrible idea. _ I let out a noise halfway between a whimper and a groan, and rested my head on the cool glass panes. I closed my eyes. In, out, in, out. Get a grip. Get a grip. 

A hand rested on my shoulder. “Is everything alright?” Lucifer said in that stupid, charming voice of his. The words I wanted to say were already out of my mouth before I could think. 

“Fuck me,” I said. 

Lucifer chuckled. “Well, I didn’t think Lux was that bad.”

I spun around, voice cracking with desperation? Relief? Anger? I couldn’t tell. “No, I mean it. I want you to fuck me. What?” This last word was directed at Loki, who looked like he was holding something back. His face split into a grin. “I knew you’d get there eventually.”

Loki did a thumbs up and that did it. That broke the dam. I laughed and laughed and laughed, tears streaming down my face. “Why the fuck did you set me up with  _ Lucifer Morningstar _ ?” I demanded.

“Because I’ve seen it all. I wouldn’t judge you,” Lucifer cut in.

“Oh.  _ Oh _ .”

“Yes, exactly.” He nipped my ear playfully. “You don’t have to hold back.”

“I want Loki to fuck me too,” I blurted out. 

“That’s fine by me,” Loki replied. 

“Me too,” added Lucifer.

I nodded, unsure what to do with that information. My brain hadn’t caught up with my mouth. Lucifer was incredibly close again, kneeling to be on my level. He took my hand in his and stroked it with the pad of his thumb. “You’re shaking,” he said. It was true, I was a simmering cocktail of nerves and lust. I made a desperate little mewling sound in the back of my throat as he kissed my fingers one by one. “Tell us what you want, anything at all,” he purred.

There was so much that I wanted to say, but all that came out was a guttural moan. Lucifer simply gave a lopsided grin and sucked on a finger. I moaned again, too horny to care anymore. His mouth felt too good and I needed to taste it. “Kiss me,” I said. It came out like an order, which took all of us by surprise. 

Lucifer pulled me into a kiss, all tongue and teeth. It distracted me from Loki, who managed to sneak up to my side and then he was nibbling my neck. His teeth scraped along the tender flesh, sending my heart into a frenzy. I bared my neck for him, desperate for more. Always more.

Lucifer was still kissing my fingers and that was when he  _ bit _ one. Just gently, but enough to make me gasp in pleasure. “Did you like that, darling?” Loki asked, voice laced with fond amusement. Words failed me and I gave a shaky nod. “Do you want more?”

I nodded again.

“Use your words now,” said Lucifer.

That just made it worse, I’d never been so turned on in my life. I floundered around for the right words as Lucifer nibbled on another finger. “Please,” I said, “Keep making me feel good—” Loki’s teeth grazed my earlobe. “—  _ fuck _ , so good. Wanna, wanna…” I closed my eyes, drowning in sensations. “Go on,” Lucifer urged gently, hands moving up my thighs. “Wanna come. Now,” I whispered. 

Loki laughed softly and kissed my cheek, the tenderness hitting me like a truck. I always knew he liked me, but nothing like this. Never like this. I leaned into his touch on impulse, ever so slightly cooler than average. Lucifer grinned wolfishly. “As you wish, my dear,” he said as he pressed little kisses up my thigh. “Let’s get some of these off, shall we?”

I smiled, touched by his sincerity. “Please do,” I said.

“I can stop at any time, just say the word,” he replied, and I nodded, so he slid off my callipers and shoes. “Have you been practicing?” I asked, dumbstruck.

“Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like you’re the first, by any means.”

“Oh, I hadn’t considered that.”

“Always happy to help widen horizons,” he said as he tugged off my jeans. I couldn’t help but gasp as his hands touched my bare skin. He was so much warmer than Loki, and the contrast was electrifying. “Such lovely legs,” he said, and I practically melted under the praise. “And what’s this?” he teased, hands wandering further upwards. Feather-light fingers brushed between my legs and I pressed into them, craving more. 

“Look at how  _ wet  _ you are,” Lucifer said, rubbing circles through the cloth.

“Can’t help it when you look at me like that.”

He started to press harder, quickly finding my clit, reducing me to a wreck. A flushed, moaning wreck. I would have said anything to keep him going. Anything to keep the pleasure dancing through my veins. Anything to keep chasing the storm. Lucifer went faster, faster, and fire coiled in the pit of my stomach, tighter, tighter, tighter. And finally, finally, it snapped and I toppled over the edge, orgasm ripping through my body like wildfire. 

I’m not sure how much time passed as I came down, it could have been seconds, minutes or even an hour. I didn’t care. I just revelled in the soft touches from Loki and Lucifer, both saying how good I was and how beautiful I looked.

But I wasn’t done yet.

“Bedroom, please,” I said as I got my breath back.

“Of course, darling,” said Loki. He lifted me up and out of my chair, as he had done many times before. But never like this. We had shared a bed before, but never like this. I kissed him and kissed him, breathing in his musk of pines and fresh snow. He had taken his shirt off somewhere along the lines and I luxuriated in his lithe muscles. Not bulky like his brother, but slim and agile, a runner’s body. My mouth wandered over every scar, and I lost myself in the latticework of a god.

Rustling from the end of the bed pulled my attention towards Lucifer, who was simply watching us with that look in his eye. Something hot twisted in my gut and I  _ melted _ as Loki stroked me under his gaze. “You like being watched, don’t you?” Lucifer all but leered, standing over me in his three piece suit. Loki slipped a cool finger inside me. I whimpered into his shoulder, face burning up again. 

“Look at me,” Lucifer commanded. 

I did as I was told, breath hitching into little gasps as his eyes travelled down my body. “Harder,” he instructed Loki, “I want them to really feel it.” I let out a guttural groan, it was as if I wasn’t even there at all. I was just a toy to be used, and I had never wanted anything more in my life. Loki cradled me in his lap, fingers working like a piston. In, out, in, out. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Lucifer, so tall and imposing in his suit. There was a softness about him too, a sort of fierce pride in seeing me lose myself to desire. “That’s it,” he said, “You’re doing so well.” That was all I needed to go over the edge again, hips shuddering as Loki worked me through it. His fingers glistened as he sucked them clean. 

Lucifer settled in beside me. “Need any more?”

“Yes, please.”

He laughed, a soft, pleased sound, in my ear. “Such good manners you have.”

“Sorry, I can’t help it.”

“Did I say there was anything wrong with it?”

“Sorry—  _ ah _ .” Lucifer bit into my shoulder. I gasped in pain, surprise, and pleasure. “Yes, sir,” I said on impulse. 

“‘Sir?’” Lucifer chuckled. “Well, that’s something, isn’t it? Do you like calling me ‘sir’?”

“Yes… sir.” My head felt like it was going to float off my shoulders.

“Do you like it when I hurt you?” He bit my neck gently, testing the waters.

“Yes, sir. It feels… good.”

Lucifer sucked the bite mark before saying, “I’m starting to think you’ve done this before — you’re quite the submissive.”

Loki gave me a knowing look.

“Oh, um,” I said, “A few times. With women. Just to experiment.”

“I see.”

“I’ve only had sex once, though.” I didn’t look at Loki, but I was sure he was smirking. “Her name was Vicky, she was… a lot.”

“So you like bad girls, eh?” said Lucifer.

“I wasn’t planning on it! It just happened.”

“Like how you just ‘happened’ to kiss me?”

I glared at him, and failed to keep it up as he mouthed along my arm as an apology. It wasn’t fair, he was too damn good at this. Loki kissed me again, long and slow, hand hovering above my chest in an unspoken question. I nodded, once again desperate for his touch. I shifted so I was spooned against Lucifer, and Loki whipped off the rest of my clothes in a heartbeat. He got to work sucking my nipples as Lucifer toyed with my swollen clit.

My whole body felt electric, every worry lost in a haze of pleasure. It was all that mattered in that moment. Lucifer was still fully clothed and I could feel his bulge pressing against me. I gave an experimental wiggle and was rewarded with a filthy moan from him. “You naughty, naughty thing,” he said, “Is that what you want, my cock inside you?”

“Yes, sir. Please, sir. I need to be filled up.”

Lucifer pressed a kiss to my temple. “Very well, then. I’d better get undressed, then, hadn’t I? Unless you want me to fuck you in the suit?”

_ Fuck, was it that obvious? _ “Any way you like, sir. Please, sir, I just need your cock.”

“In that case, get ready to see me in my naked splendour.” And with that, he wiggled out from behind me and began to strip. I was on the verge of rolling my eyes until he took his shirt off. Fucking hell, he was fit, but not in an obnoxiously veiny way, it was just right. Lucifer smirked at my reaction, smugness rolling off him in waves. “Enjoying the view, are we?” he purred.

I settled back on the pillows with a smirk of my own, shared in equal measure with Loki. He started to tease me again, this time with three fingers, stretching me open. I had done it myself, but his fingers were so much longer than mine and could reach that spot that made me want to scream. 

And then Lucifer was on top of me, very naked, eyes half-lidded with lust, and I lost myself in his touch once more. Loki’s hand was replaced with his own. He lazily curled his fingers  _ just right _ , and then it was gone. I whined at the loss, overcome with need. “Shush, shush, let me make you feel good.” I nodded. He rolled on a ribbed condom (yes, my mouth may have watered at the sight of his cock, so sue me) and slowly, slowly, eased himself inside. 

The sound I made was somewhere between a moan and a howl. He was so big, and it all felt so good, being filled up like this. He rocked into me gently so I could feel every inch, every thrust, every movement. From the sounds he was making, Loki was enjoying this too. “Faster, please,” I said. It came out more like a whine. 

Lucifer gave me a long, sloppy kiss. “As you wish.” And he picked up the pace, properly thrusting into me, grinning like a shark at my pleasure. “Is that better?” Another hard thrust for emphasis. “Is this what you you want?” I moaned in assent. “You like feeling like a slut, don’t you?” Slut, slut, slut. That word set me on fire. All I could say was a string of curses and yesses and pleases as he ploughed into me again, again, again. His hands were on my shoulders, pinning me down. I just had to take it. I just had to take it like a good little slut. All coherent thought left me. Heat. Skin. Pleasure. 

Lucifer covered my neck and shoulders with bruises and teeth marks. The pain mingled with darts of ecstasy as he took me apart, piece by piece. Shattering into oblivion. “Go on, Raven,” he whispered between grunts, “Lose yourself to me. I’ve got you now, you can let go. Go on, come for me…” 

I exploded. I couldn’t even scream, the shockwaves ricocheted through me. Neck arching, eyes shut, my body shaking shaking shaking. Bliss. Perfect bliss. Head empty. Nothing else but this moment, crystallised for all eternity. Lucifer kept going, dragging it out of me. His movements became uneven, muscles tensing, and then  _ release _ . 

He collapsed by the side of me, chest heaving, slick with sweat. I stayed where I was, shell shocked and buzzing. “Holy fuck,” I wheezed.

Lucifer raised his eyebrows. “I should hope not.”

“You know what I mean.”

Loki, still touching himself, chucked a pillow at Lucifer on my behalf with his free hand. I cackled as Lucifer was hit full in the face; he looked like a startled cat. I grinned at Loki, who was clearly on edge. “Need assistance?” I asked, batting my eyelashes at him. He rolled his eyes and finished off with a groan. “Clean me up,” he gestured to the mess on his chest. I was only too happy to help, lapping up his cum like an eager kitten. “Good boy,” he said, stroking my head, making sure to get that spot which turned me into a puddle. I flopped onto him, happy to drift whilst Lucifer did whatever he did. Another pair of arms wrapped around me as I fell asleep… 

— — —

I woke up the perfect temperature, sandwiched between two immortals. I curled into Loki’s side as Lucifer traced circles on my back. “How are you feeling?” he said with a hint of concern. I hardly knew him, but I guessed this was a rare treat. “A bit sore,” I replied, “But happy, very happy. Thank you.”

“Always a pleasure, my dear. Breakfast?”

“Hell yes.”

Loki high-fived me, and Lucifer cast his eyes downwards and shook his head with a hint of a smile. I watched him walk out, light dancing over his post-sex hair and wondered what I had gotten myself into.

After a minute or so of dozing, Loki turned to me and said, “Raven, I, um, have a present for you.”

“Oh?” I leaned towards him.

“It’s something I’ve been working on for a while, and I know you're proud of your disability, and I respect that, of course. I would never want to force you to change, but I thought… well, you’re special to me, so I want you to have special things. So I made you these…” He summoned a black wooden box out of nowhere, and pressed it into my hands, vulnerability etched into his face. I opened it, hardly daring to breath, anything that made Loki nervous was clearly a big deal. Inside, nestled in velvet, was a pair of silver bracelets. They were intricately sculpted into ouroboros. “These are…” I fumbled for the right words. “Wow. So I wear them and, like, bypass my disability?” I didn’t want to say ‘become normal’, having a disability isn’t something to be fixed. Society should be fixed instead, not us. 

“Yes, exactly. You’ll feel a bit odd the first few times you wear them as your body gets used to the effects.”

“What kind of effects?”

“Muscles changing, joints loosening up.”

“Will that be permanent?” I fiddled with the bracelets, torn between the pull of magic and potentially discarding a part of my identity. Like it or not, it had shaped me into who I was. 

“Yes and no. The physical effects will be passive and permanent; when the magic is active, you can use it continuously for up to three days. And then it needs a break for two.”

“Sounds like you’ve thought about it a lot, then.”

“Of course,” Loki said, ruffling his metaphorical feathers. “I couldn’t give you any old thing, could I?”

“No, no… of course not.” I hummed, thoughts spiralling. This was a dream come true but I couldn’t shake this sense of betrayal, as if I owed something to my condition. Sure, it was a pain in the neck, but I had found strength within it, and the people I had met along the way, I had overcome so much — was it right to throw it away because it was considered inconvenient in a society that should know better? But then again, it was  _ my  _ body and I had the right to change it if I wanted to.

“I want this,” I said, eventually.

Loki’s eyes shone in the morning sun. “I’m so, so glad. May I?” He gestured to the bracelets, I nodded. He took my thin hands in his, and put them on with such care, such tenderness, I almost teared up. They fit perfectly. I didn’t expect any less. “How do I activate them?” I asked him.

“You touch the heads together for five seconds. Are you sure you want to try now?”

“Why wait? I’ve done enough of that.”

“Very well. Go ahead, I’ll be here for you.”

I touched the snake heads together and a surge of energy rippled through me. It was sinking into a warm bath, just on the edge of too hot. It pulsed down my veins, throbbing in time with my heart. I tried lifting my hand to my head, part of me still thinking this was all nonsense and—  _ oh _ .

My hand was on my head. That was new. I could scratch it. I raised my other hand in front of my face. I wiggled my fingers, closed them into a fist, stretched them out. These were such simple things, but I had never done them before. Not like this. Never like this. Never with such ease. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat up. It was as easy as breathing. This was what other people did? Didn’t they realise how lucky they were just to  _ do _ things they wanted to?

I stood up for the first time without splints or a helping hand, just me, nothing else except muscle and bone and magic.

I took a step, and another, and another. Bits of me twinged and complained, but I didn’t care. I was moving. I was alive.

I didn’t realise I was crying until I felt Loki’s arms around me, holding me close. He ran his fingers through my hair, singing an ancient lullaby I couldn’t hope to understand. “Why would you do this for me?” I said.

“Because you have a spark inside, and I want to see it roar.”

I couldn’t answer that. I didn’t need to. Sometimes you don’t need the weight of words, silence is enough.

“Does Lucifer know?” I asked Loki once I got my breath back.

“No.”

“Then let’s show him.” I flashed him a grin.

We walked into the lounge, where Lucifer was setting up a breakfast buffet on the bar. Poached eggs, sausages, bacon, beans, fried mushrooms, and thick buttery toast done just right. I had no idea where all this came from as I couldn't see a kitchen anywhere, unless it was hidden behind the rows and rows of alcohol. “Hi, Lucifer,” I said in my most sunny chirp.

“Oh, hello— “ Whump. The sausage he was holding slipped onto the floor. He looked at it, utterly betrayed, then at me, jaw dropping like the sausage before it. “How— what…” I didn’t think he was used to being at a loss for words. 

I waved at him. “Congratulations, you fucked my disability right out of me. It’s a miracle!”

Loki snickered. Lucifer’s face was a picture. Then he noticed my new bracelets and everything clicked. “Ah,” he said, “I see you’ve had an upgrade.”

“Oh yes.” I sauntered towards him with a newfound confidence. “And don’t worry about that sausage, you make it up to me with the one between your legs.”

“Why you cheeky minx! Lucifer likes that.”

Loki gave him a withering look. “Do you really have to refer to yourself in third person? It’s rather irritating.”

“Says the man who claimed to be ‘burdened with glorious purpose’. Really, a bit much if you ask me.”

“Oh, that’s rich coming from  _ you _ , the infamous Lucifer Morningstar, master of subtlety. Not.”

I was happy to watch them bicker if that meant I had first dibs on the bacon. It wasn’t as if we had anywhere to be… 


	2. the calling

It was one of those nights where you thought you were invincible. It was just you and your friends against the vastness of the ocean and the calling of the stars. You couldn’t see the stars very much in LA but the city lights made up for it. The city  _ breathed _ at night, each pinprick of light buzzing with potential and life and everything that came with it. Each light told a story. 

LA also reminded me of one of those creatures at the bottom of the sea, covered in lights to draw in prey, mesmerised, until they were snapped up. Despite all its brilliance, the success of the few teetered on the shoulders of the rotten and abandoned. Behind every manicured facade was a crumbling brick wall strangled with graffiti, stinking of piss and ashes.

I poked the bonfire with a stick, sending sparks dancing in the dark. I had been restless ever since Loki gave me those bracelets, I had to  _ do _ something with these new abilities, but I had no idea where to start. Sure, I had used the gym at Lux and sparred with Maze a few times (amongst other things) but I needed to get out there. I needed purpose. 

I heard footsteps behind me. It was Lucifer, still dressed in an impeccable suit despite being on the beach. I wore a pair of swimming trunks and one of his shirts, I liked the way it draped over me. “You’re awfully quiet,” he said. He lit a cigarette and settled besides me. “Those things will kill you,” I said.

“Too bad.” The tip glowed orange, smoke curling upwards to the heavens. “I thought you’d be flat out after what Maze did to you yesterday.”

I shrugged. “I guess I’m just resilient.” I still had scratches down my back, Loki had offered to put a poultice on them but I refused. I wanted my victory stripes. 

“What’s on your mind?” asked Lucifer, reading my face like a book.

I sighed. “I wasn’t planning on moving to LA, you know. But now I’m here…” I trailed off.

“It’s addictive, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, a bit. I just have all this energy I need to burn off. Whenever I think I’m done, I get restless again.”

“What’s all this about?” Loki plonked down on my other side.

“Lucifer’s giving me life advice.”

“Oh dear.”

“Oi!” Lucifer threw a marshmallow at him. He simply ducked and rolled his eyes. “Come and dance with me?” Loki asked, turning to me.

“To what music?” We hadn’t brought any speakers with us.

“The universe itself.” 

It was my turn to roll my eyes. But I took his hand. “You’re so pretentious.”

He pulled me close to his chest. “At least I’m not boring.”

“Very true,” I said, spinning away from him with a smile.

“I do like the sea,” he said, watching the waves lap upon the shore, “But it’s nothing compared to the Mist Oceans of Niflheim.” He caught me around the waist and dipped me. “Only because you’d probably screw whatever’s down there.”

“How dare you!” He dropped me on the sand, laughing despite himself.

“What, you’re saying you draw the line at tentacles but not horses?” 

Loki looked down at me. “That’s not true, and you know it.”

“But what about the myths! Surely they’re  _ all _ true?” I batted my eyes at him. “You are a  _ god _ , after all?”

He rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”

“Make me.” I held out my hand, knowing sooner or later he’d get the hint.

He pulled me upwards with a sigh. “You’d like that too much.”

I winked at him and Lucifer’s chuckle carried along the breeze. I’d never felt more at home.

— —

Prod. Prod. I blearily opened my eyes to a face full of Devil. “Wha’?” I said, rubbing sleep out of my eyes. Lucifer grinned at me.

“Ugh, what time is it?”

“About eight thirty.”

I stuffed my face into the pillow. “Five more minutes.”

“I made pancakes.”

“Three minutes.”

“There’s bacon.”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.”

I padded through to the lounge, where Lucifer had set up stacks of pancakes balanced precariously on a coffee table. They were drizzled with an almost obscene amount of golden syrup. “What’s the occasion?” I asked, eyeing up the bacon. “Why, your new job of course!” Lucifer beamed, sucking syrup off his fingers.

“My new job?” I scrabbled around mentally for any clues. Last night was a sunset-soaked haze, nothing useful there.

“You mentioned it last night so I thought I’d pull a few strings at the LAPD.”

“Right.” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this. Chloe was his partner already.

“You’re my new, and very first, intern!”

“Your intern?”

“Yep.”

“So I’m working for you?”

“Yep.”

It was like trying to refuse a dead mouse from a particularly cute kitten. Lucifer was certainly as fickle as one. “I can’t wait to start,” I said… eventually, dreading what nonsense he would drag me into this time. Part of me, the part that took after Loki, was bouncing off the ceiling at the thought of getting onto a crime scene.

“By the way, Loki left this for you before dashing off.” Lucifer passed me a note that read:  _ Diplomatic crisis on Asgard. Back soon. _ I hoped ‘soon’ was actually soon and the ‘crisis’ wasn’t too serious. Thor always had a tendency to hit first and ask questions later. I shrugged and shoved that particular worry to the back of my mind.

We arrived at the crime scene some time after nine, a record for me. It was an alleyway down the back of a pizza place I’d never heard of. Yellow tape cut through the grime, forensics bustled around, bagging up evidence. I looked down at my black hoodie and felt very out of place amongst the glinting badges and lanyards. “I’ll just wait—” I started to say, but Lucifer pulled me into the throng and towards one of the detectives. She was dressed in a bomber jacket and khaki trousers, her blonde hair was pulled up into a sensible bun. In short, she was the polar opposite to Lucifer. “Who’s this?” she asked Lucifer, furrowing her brows.

“This,” he replied, with a sweeping gesture, “Is Raven. They’ll be assisting me today.”

“Right.” She didn’t sound convinced. “Lucifer, a word.” She pulled him to one side. “You can’t just bring anyone to a crime scene.”

“But they’re not just anyone. They’re a very observant individual.”

“Yes, but—”

“I never lie, Detective.”

Chloe relented. “Okay fine. But no funny business, okay?”

“You have my word.”

I nosed around the crime scene as Lucifer and Chloe talked about the details. I crouched down next to a forensic taking photos. She looked at me and immediately gave me the sunniest grin I had ever seen. “Hi,” she said, “I’m Ella! You must be Raven.” She swept me into a quick hug.

“Word gets around fast.” I gave a wry smile.

“I love your eyes, by the way.”

“Oh.” I blushed slightly, not used to people complimenting them. They usually said I was a freak, an oddity, with one blue eye and one green. “Thank you. What have you got so far?”

“Not much, really. This is a weird one, all our equipment goes nuts the minute we try to use it. I’ve been trying to take a photo but it always loses focus or goes grainy.”

“Any signs of a struggle?” That was what they said in the films, right?

“Nope. Whoever did this was a pro. I think it might be poison but I’ve never seen these effects before. See his eyes?”

I peered over. “Huh.” They were solid black.

“I know, right? Look at his veins.” Black, too.

“That’s weird. How long has he been dead?”

“Rigor mortis hasn’t set in yet, but the body is already starting to decompose. This is so freaking weird.”

I tried to listen to her go into further analysis, but I was distracted by the dread gnawing my stomach. The more I looked at this man, the more I sensed something was  _ wrong _ . Not just because he was dead, it went deeper than that. I couldn’t put it into words. 

Once I finished up with Ella, I found Lucifer and Chloe questioning a witness. I hung back, crouching by the body, not wanting to interrupt. I caught the odd fragments of what the witness was saying: “...as big as a dog”, “like some kinda jellyfish or something”, “couldn’t even scream”. 

My fingers strayed over the body, barely touching. (Looking back on it, I should have known better, I should have been wearing gloves. But then again, I had never been a stickler for the rules.) My throat seized up as my fingers made contact with cold skin. I couldn’t get in enough air. I was shaking, sweating, legs buckling. Darkness closing in, footsteps hurrying. 

I closed my eyes, head on the cool, cool floor. My brain was splitting open, I was sure of it. The voices were getting louder, I couldn’t block them out.

— —

_ I was in the alley. Cornered. Back against the wall, heart hammering in my chest. My hands shook. They weren’t mine. I looked at the thing closing in and I knew I was going to die. I was going to die, cold and alone and scared shitless.  _

_ One minute I was fine, the next I was running from this  _ **_thing_ ** _ made of coils of darkness and clashing mandibles. It had too many eyes. It made me sick, but I couldn’t look away.  _

_ Death approached me and all I could do was stare as I was skewered by something from my nightmares. _

— —

I woke to a haze of worried faces. I was flat out on my back in the alleyway. Lucifer came into focus, eyebrows drawn together with worry. “What happened?”

“I think it was a panic attack…” My words came out slurred.

“I’m no expert, but those don’t tend to make you stagger around like a drunkard in a trance. Tell me what’s going on, Raven.”

I could feel the words being pulled out of me, into those lovely brown eyes, but I couldn't say them there. Too many people who could ask too many questions. I dragged him into a secluded corner, ignoring the stares. Yes, we had clearly fucked, so what? “I saw something back there,” I told him, twisting my clammy hands into knots.

“A vision?” 

“Yeah, something like that. I need to talk to Loki, he’ll know what to do—”

“You have too much faith in me, dear.”

I spun around. It was him. “What’s going on? Why aren’t you in Asgard?”

“It seems,” he said, “We have an apocalypse on our hands.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “So much for diplomacy.”

“About that…” He gave me a sheepish grin. “I might have lied.”

“You  _ lied  _ to me?” I stepped towards him, anger bubbling in my throat.

He staggered against the wall, hands raised, trying to placate me. “I can explain!”

“You’d better,” I snarled, already on edge from my vision or whatever it was.

“It was an emergency, I didn’t lie about that! It’s just rather more serious than I anticipated.”

“How serious?” I asked.

Loki barked a nervous little laugh, but no answer.

“What  _ happened? _ ” Lucifer demanded.

Loki went as pale as death. He slumped against the wall. I glimpsed a dark stain growing up his side. He tried to cover it up but it was too late.

I saw the blood. “Loki, what have you done?”

He gurgled and collapsed to the floor.

It’s amazing how quickly people will move out the way if you give them the right look. I was thankful for my unnerving eyes for once. No magic needed. They took one look at me, and the bloodied man I was supporting with Lucifer, and decided it was best not to ask. We tossed him into the back of Lucifer’s car and sped off before anyone could ask why. Even if they did, I wouldn’t be able to answer, I had no idea what was going on. All I knew was that my friend was bleeding out on expensive Italian leather and the Devil didn’t care for speed limits.

Loki was paler than death when we skidded into Lux. It had only been a few minutes but it had felt like an eternity. We carried him through the club, most people were too high or too drunk to care. It wasn’t even midday, they didn’t care about that either. 

In the lift, I looked anywhere but at my friend’s sweat-sheeted face. I counted the seconds. 

Ding. Penthouse. Shove down bile. Pick up friend. Swear a lot. Deposit friend on bed. Stare at blood. Too much blood. Not a god. Not a god. Not a god. Wait for the Devil to come up with something miracle-adjacent. 

Miracle is a feather in a trinket box. Angel’s feather. Lucifer’s feather. It’s white and brilliant and holy.  **Thud thud thud** . My heart is beating its way out of my rib cage.

Loki opened his eyes, face back to his usual pallor. I let myself breathe. The feather worked. The light healed him. Everything was going to be fine. Loki was going to say something witty and clever and everything would go back to normal.

“It seems,” he croaked, “We have a slight apocalypse on our hands.”

  
  



	3. dead?

The silence stretched on and on, getting tauter and tauter, trembling with the weight of words unsaid. Vibrating. I had left my brain somewhere back in the alley where the dead man lay, I could picture it scuttling down the pavement to catch up. Or maybe it lay dead in a ditch somewhere. I plunked down into a chair and looked at Loki, some part of me hoping that this was just another one of his stupid tricks. Any minute now his face would split into a wry grin and he would say how silly I was to have believed him, chaos incarnate. “Isn’t this an Avengers thing?” I said, realising that this was real, not a trick, not a ruse, it was real and solid and terrifying. 

“I’m afraid it might be beyond them.”

“Bloody hell,” said Lucifer, sitting down heavily. “This is… bad?” The question was laced with a last, feeble attempt at hope.

“Yes, if we don’t stop it before it gets here. There may still be time.”

“What exactly are we dealing with?” I asked, picking at a hangnail.

“Yggdrasil is in danger. It’s been infected with parasites. I don't know where they came from but the whole fabric of reality is at stake.”

“What do they look like?” A lead weight settled in my gut, cold, cold dread.

“Nobody knows for certain, we didn’t even know they existed before today. They were just a story we told each other at night, the Breachers under the bed.”

“I see.” I picked at a nail.

“Why do you ask?”

I shifted in my seat. “I just want to know what to look out for.”

Loki narrowed his eyes. “You’re lying. Out with it.”

“I saw something at the crime scene. A vision when I touched the body.”

“Oh dear.”

“I saw how that man died. Actually, no, I _felt_ how he died. A ball of shadows killed him.”

“Oh dear,” Loki said, fainter this time.

And that was when Lucifer’s phone rang, splintering the tension, shrapnel piercing my chest as it squeezed and squeezed and squeezed. “Detective?” he said, smooth facade easily slipping into place. “… gone? What do you mean _gone_? Right, right. Okay. We’ll be right there.” He ended the call.

“What was that about?” I asked him.

“The body’s missing.”

“How does a body disappear?”

Loki looked at me.

I looked at him.

“Oh,” I said, realisation dawning on me. “Did these stories mention anything about possession?”

Loki nodded.

I put my head in my hands. “Shit.”

“Yes, quite.”

I stood up, hands balled into fists, and started pacing.

“What are you doing?” Lucifer asked.

“Thinking about how we’re going to fix this mess.”

“I won’t let you—”

I cut Loki off. “I didn’t ask for your permission. I’m making this choice whether you like it or not.”

“Why do you want to be a hero all of a sudden? What has the world ever done for you?” he snapped.

“I owe it to the people who’ve made my life worth living to at least _try_.”

He tried again, softer. “Raven… We can just run.”

“What good would that do?”

“We’d survive.” He didn’t look entirely sure about that.

I spun around to face him, hackles rising. “You lied to me, Loki!”

“I was trying to protect you.”

“Why? Because I’m some _puny_ mortal?”

“Because I care about you!” His voice was rising too, now.

“If you cared about me so much, you’d tell me what was going on!”

“Honestly, what did you expect?”

“Better.”

“I’m sorry.” 

It didn’t make it hurt any less. I was angry at myself for being swept along by his words in the first place. It seemed like a lifetime ago since the sky opened up and he was flung onto my back lawn. I was seventeen, and scared shitless and the first thing I said to him was: “You’re the guy who blew up New York.”

And he had looked up at me, covered in grass and mud, sitting in a shallow crater that smoked at the edges. “Yes, I suppose I am.”

I blurted out the first thing that popped into my head. “Why?”

He gave a long sigh, and I took in his sharp angles and dark circles. He was exhausted. “Nobody’s asked me that before.”

“Really?” I peered down at him from my chair.

“Not as sincerely as you have.” He stared at me as if he was trying to add two and two together, but kept getting five. “You’re not scared of me?”

I laughed a brittle laugh. “Of course I am. But I’m also curious…”

“About what?”

“How you do it. The magic thing.”

It was his turn to laugh. “Why do you want to know?”

“I thought it might be useful for…” I gestured vaguely at my wheelchair. There weren’t enough words for what I wanted. 

“Oh. Right. I didn’t really notice that.”

“You didn’t? People normally do.”

“Do I look like ‘people’?”

“No, you look like you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards.”

There was a brief moment where I thought Loki was going to kill me. Instead, he _laughed_. It was such a genuine, delighted chuckle that I couldn’t help but join in. “The Avengers are probably going to turn up if I stay any longer.” He sagged, deflating like a lost balloon.

“Can you teach me something before you go?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

“Very well.”

I blinked. “What?”

“I’ll teach you how to do a basic glamour.”

I blinked again. “Why?”

“Because I feel like it and it amuses me.”

My brain scrambled to keep up with my mouth, lagging woefully behind. “Would you like a cup of tea?”

He said yes, and the next few minutes went by in a flash. The lesson was over before it had really got started. Before I knew it, he was getting ready to go.

“Will I see you again?” (Yes, I would. He would turn up a year later, beaten and bloody on my doorstep, clutching the Tesseract to his chest like a lifeline. He never told me exactly what happened with Thanos, but his cries during the night told me enough.)

“Who knows?”

I looked down at my hands. “Well,” I said, “It was nice to meet you — the real you. Not the one from the telly, or in the mythology books.”

He had smiled at that.

And then he was gone.

— —

This time I was the one who walked away.

“Where are you going?” Loki asked, almost getting up to follow me.

“To help Chloe track this thing down.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“No, you’re staying right here with Lucifer.” Lucifer raised an eyebrow at this, but stayed quiet. “They’ll ask too many questions otherwise.”

“But—” Loki slumped, defeated by my withering glare.

“Text me if the world ends.”

With that, I strode out of the room, fire dancing through my veins.

I met Maze downstairs, she gave me a knife-edge grin as I marched over. 

“Hello, stranger,” she said, looking me up and down. 

“Hey,” I flopped down on the leather sofa opposite, tired all of a sudden.

“What’s up?”

I sighed, was it that obvious? “My best friend lied to me about the impending apocalypse. So yeah, I’m pretty pissed off. He doesn’t think I can handle it.”

“I’ll go stab him for you.” Her hands were already on her knives, almost as sharp as her eyeliner.

I waved away the gracious offer. “No, don’t. He’s already been impaled today, give it a week or so.” I laughed despite it all.

Maze shrugged, twirling her blades. “Suit yourself.” 

I liked Maze, she was always so direct. It was a nice change from tricksters who could think themselves into knots. “Fancy helping me track down a possessed corpse?” I asked her.

“Sounds weird, I’m in.”

Another thing I liked about Maze: she had a motorbike, a Harley-Davidson. A _proper_ motorbike, not a weedy little candy-coloured scooter. If those were chihuahuas, this was a hellhound. My arms wrapped around her leather clad waist as the wind whipped my anger into something more palatable.

We powered into the car park, throwing up gravel as we skidded to a halt. I wasn’t exactly expecting a warm welcome when I walked into the precinct, but I wasn’t expecting a gun to my chest. Chloe’s steely gaze bore into mine. “Who are you?” she said as I raised my hands in surrender. “And how do you know the guy who tried to invade New York?”

Ah, shit, she had joined the dots.

“I will explain everything. In private.” I nodded at the rest of the barrels in my face.

The interrogation room was cold, and so were the handcuffs. On some level, I was flattered that she put me in them. It meant I had power, and she was scared of it.

“Who are you?” she asked me again.

“My name is Raven Montgomery and I’m Loki’s…” There were so many words for what we were, so I settled with: “Partner.”

“For how long?”

“Three years.” I could hear her gears grinding away, doing the maths.

“So you weren’t involved with New York?”

“Nope.”

“Do you have any evidence for that?”

I sighed. “No, you just need to trust me.”

“Trust you?” she echoed, eyebrows making a break for her hairline. “When you’re partners with the literal god of lies?”

“Look, he really gets a bad rep. And besides,” I added before she could disagree. “Lucifer and I get on, and you know he hates lies.”

She narrowed her eyes. “True. So what do you want?”

“To find this missing body of yours and save the world.”

She blinked. “How do you know about that?”

“I was there when Lucifer got the call. I said I’d go instead. He’s busy.”

“Right.” She shuffled the papers on the table, still frowning at me. “Are you…?” She gestured upwards.

I bit back a laugh. “No, I’m as human as you. Mostly — I can do magic.”

Something in her shoulders softened a little. “Okay, then. You can help, but I'm going to keep an eye on you.” She uncuffed me and I resisted the urge to say I preferred the padded ones. Instead, I thanked her and didn’t say I was going to get into the morgue whether she liked it or not.

— —

I shivered as I entered the morgue. The area had been cordoned off to everyone else but me, Chloe and Ella. Ella gave me a brittle smile. “Don’t worry,” said Chloe, “They’re not a threat.”

“I’m here to help,” I said, rubbing my hands together. Gods, it was freezing. How were they not in coats? “Aren’t you cold?” I asked.

Ella frowned. “Not really. Are you?”

“A bit, yeah.” I stuffed my hands in my armpits. “Seriously, you don’t feel that?” 

Chloe looked at me as if I had lost the plot, maybe she was right. I wandered around, trying to stay warm, stamping my boots like a grumpy toddler. Every time I blinked, I swear I could hear the corpses rattle in their freezers. They were calling out to me and, worst of all, I wanted to listen. I wanted to drown in their stories until I forgot about the cold. 

There was a corner of that room I was drawn to, just under the vent. A trail of soot led up to it. Its plating bulged, dented by something forcing its way through. The longer I stood there, the more I felt icy fingers dancing down my spine. Still, I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

“Hey, guys,” I said, “Where does this go?” I pointed up.

Ella replied, examining the locks on the freezers. “The parking lot.”

“How easy would it be for someone to crawl through them?”

Ella stopped, looked at me. “Pretty much impossible unless you were cool with dislocation. Why?”

Before I could think twice, or even once, I was already halfway out the door. “I’ll explain later! Don’t move!” I hollered over my shoulder.

I skidded across linoleum floors, I always seemed to run everywhere these days. I suppose I had lots to make up for. Faces blurred past me, shock, concern, irritation etched into each one. The stares didn’t bother me for once, I had other things on my mind, I had somewhere to be. 

Main lobby. Main doors. Fresh air. Exit.

My body hummed with adrenaline as I took in the rows of cars, the flat plane of tarmac, the sun glaring off windshields. I stood still, breathing in and out, in and out, reaching out with my magic. Stilling the waters of my mind. Just like Loki had taught me. The universe was a tapestry, everything connected, I just had to pull on the right thread.

There.

A block away. 

I ran.

One foot in front of the other seems simple enough until you’re faced with a wall of people who all think they have right of way. I couldn’t slow down, not when the thread was stretching with every second. I had to act. Fast. 

Think think think. What would get people to move? Fire? No. Too flashy. Gas leak? Too dangerous, can’t blow myself up before I get there. Think, think. Oh, look, manhole cover. Drains? Drains!

Perfect.

Now it was just a case of getting people out the way. I sidled up to a little bespectacled man with a wonky nose. “Hey,” I said, coating my words with suggestion and a dash of magic, “Did you hear about the drains?”

“The drains?” he said, sounding far away.

“I heard there was a leak and now it smells _awful_.”

He gagged. I smiled. My work was done.

I watched him scuttle off to the other side of the road, bumping shoulders with half a dozen others. They started gagging too, the suggestion taking hold like a virus. The crowd dispersed, and later they would ask themselves why. I weaved in and out, much easier now, picking up the pace until I was running again, chasing the thread once more.

And then I saw it, shambling along, one leg twisted backwards, dragging along the pavement, leaving a trail of soot in its wake. The body was still dressed in its shirt and jeans from when it was alive. They had seen better days. 

I hung back, watching it with morbid curiosity. How exactly was I supposed to fight something that was already dead? Did it even feel pain? It didn’t seem to as it lurched into an alleyway. Doubt started to rear its ugly head, and I pushed it down, down, ignoring the chills running down my spine. I followed it into the shadows. My hands trembled in my pockets. _Maybe I should turn back, ask Loki for backup,_ I thought. Maybe— 

The body, the Breacher, the dead thing, turned around and looked. At. Me. I couldn’t breathe, it’s stare went straight through my chest. I was a frozen deer, but there were no headlights, just cold, black pits where its eyes should be. Its skin flaked away in places, exposing rotten black flesh underneath. A cracked mannequin of the man it once was. 

It lurched towards me, I couldn’t move, feet rooted to the floor, overwhelmed by the realisation that I was in too deep. I wasn’t a hero. I was just a kid who followed a god, in the hope that I could become one too. 

A hand closed around my wrist, and my head spun with the scent of rotting flesh. Bile rose in my throat, it burned and burned and burned. Every part of me burned. 

I looked down at my free hand, clenched my fist bone-white, and slammed it into the Breacher’s face. It flew clean off in a flash of light, and shattered against the dead end.

It took me a heartbeat to realise where it came from.

Me.

I looked down at my hands as the headless body staggered around. They still glowed with silvery white light. It pulsed in time with the blood rushing in my ears. It had come from me. How—

A faint _whumpf_ brought my attention back to the Breacher. All that was left of it was a pile of ash.

I did that?

I looked back up.

On the far wall, where the head rolled to a stop before imploding, was a tree. Its nine branches were etched into the brickwork as if they had always been there. They pulsed in time with the light dancing across my fingertips. I couldn’t remember walking here. My fingers traced along silver veins, and they sang under my touch. I got closer and closer, nose-to-bricks, closer still. I was pitching forwards, through the cracks in the cement, tumbling head over heels into the abyss. Silver roots dragged me down, down, filling my ears with their song.

Until I stopped.

Suspended in a sky full of stars.

None of them mine.

I drifted.

For something so big, the cosmos doesn’t make a sound. It stretches on and on and on, the silence reaches into your heart and twists it into knots. Every single worry, every single fear, hope, dream, every thought you’ve ever had wants to burst through your pores to fill up that aching silence. You want to scream, even though no one will hear you.

The voice came from every corner, every atom, every speck of stardust that ever was. “Do not be afraid, my child.”

“Am I dead?”

“Far from it.”

“Who are you?” I asked the universe, “Why did you bring me here?” 

“I am Yggdrasil.”

“Oh,” I said, “I thought you were a tree.”

If the stars could laugh, that’s what they did. “I have many forms. Look.”

And Yggdrasil was a woman. Tall and strong — she held herself like, well, a tree. Deep russet skin, the colour of dying embers, contrasted with her pale silver hair, fanning out behind her like a comet trail. She wore nothing at all, completely comfortable with her body. Her eyes bore the fierce gaze of a mother. 

“Why am I here?”

“Your friend did not know this when he made them, but your bracelets are connected directly to the Source. You are a link between this world and the next.”

“So that’s why I see… things.”

“Precisely.”

“So, now what? I’m the Chosen One or something?” I said it through a laugh, but I was terrified. There was no way I was the sole saviour of the universe.

“There’s no such thing. There are only people with power, it is up to them how they use it. You always have a choice.”

“What if I choose to run?”

“Then you run, and live with the consequences.”

“And if I fight?”

She looked at me with those diamond eyes. “Then don’t fight alone.” She flickered slightly, looking drained. “We don’t have much time. I have become weak since the… parasites.”

“How do I stop them?”

“You must travel to the Source, my root, and eliminate them. Only then will your world be safe.”

I nodded. No words were needed.

The stars flickered out one by one and then I was hurtling back through the abyss, back through the wall into the land of the living.

  
  
  



	4. friction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is the song by Imagine Dragons :)

I opened my eyes and realised two things: a mouthful of ash is horrible, and an ant on your nose isn’t much better. “What’re you doin’ here?” I slurred at a pair of Italian leather shoes.

“Taking you back to Lux before you pass out again, or throw up,” said the shoes.

I rolled onto my back to see Lucifer standing over me. “What.” 

“Come on, up you get,” he said, hoisting me to my feet.

I didn’t have any choice but to stand, and the world lurched to one side. “Ugh,” I said, blinking at the red and blue lights. “The fuck?” I asked the world in general. 

“Yes, my thoughts exactly. What in Dad’s name were you doing?”

“Talking to a tree.”

And then Chloe was there and I was staring down the barrel of a gun again. “You think I did this,” I said. It didn’t look great, to be honest.

“Put your hands up.”

I didn’t move. “You think I stole a dead body and then blew it up. Why would I do that?”

“Put your hands up.”

I slowly, slowly raised my hands. “I didn’t do this. I can explain.”

“Who  _ are  _ you?”

Good question. I had to think about an answer, actually  _ think _ and stop for a moment. I hadn’t done that the last few days, terrified that this would all turn out to be a dream and I’d wake up back in reality. All those nagging thoughts I had shoved aside boiled over the edges of the pressure cooker that was my brain. “I don’t fucking know! I am the last person to know. You think I understand all this?” I waved at everything, feeling like a deranged windmill. “I don’t! Shit just  _ happens _ to me and I try not to think about it too hard or I’ll lose it. Perhaps I’ve already lost it, fuck knows.” 

The detective reeled back, stuttering under the verbal onslaught. “A few weeks ago,” I continued, beginning to feel a tad hysterical, “I shagged Lucifer Morningstar. And now… there’s a  _ fucking  _ apocalypse due. Do you  _ really _ think I know who I am in this mess?” It wasn’t the right answer, I knew it wasn’t. A sob tore its way out of my throat. I was crying crying crying in front of everyone because the universe felt too big, and my head too small. Who was I to be a hero? 

A pair of arms circled me from behind and it couldn’t be Lucifer because he was still standing in front of me, trying to placate the growing hubbub. There was only one person who smelled like pines and old books, and whose arms I knew so well. Loki. 

“You shouldn’t—” I started to say, and then he was pulling me around to face him. I’d never seen him look so raw and aching, his heart etched across his face, plain for all to see. “I thought I lost you,” he said, wiping my tears away, “I couldn’t just sit there. I couldn’t leave you.”

“How did you find me?” I whispered, burying my head in his chest.

He chuckled into my hair. “I followed your thread.”

“Stalker.” I poked him in the ribs. 

“Reckless scamp.” He poked me back.

I rolled my eyes. “You shouldn’t have come. I’m fine, look?” I stepped back to show him just how fine I was. My leg promptly buckled and I would’ve careened into the wall had Loki not caught me. “You were saying?” he said, smiling despite his furrowed brows. I winced, and my bracelets felt warm; they were running low. 

“I’m taking you back to Lux,” he said, scooping me up like a rag-doll, “I’m sure Lucifer can deal with that lot.”

I wasn’t sure about that, but I was too tired to argue.

* * * * *

I must have passed out on the way, as I woke up on silken sheets, half convinced that everything had been a dream. A terrible, terrible dream. The bloody towels in the corner reminded me otherwise.

I tried to sit up, but my body felt like it was made of lead. I couldn’t breathe, my ribs were leaden, crushing my lungs. My sunset-soaked daydreams came crashing down and I curled into a ball and tried not to think of blood. 

The bed creaked and a weight settled in next to me. Loki. He didn’t say anything, just stroked my head until I stopped shaking. “I’m sorry,” I said, barely a whisper.

“What for?”

“I feel like all this is happening because of me. Because you gave me something I shouldn’t have in the first place.”

“Nonsense. You’re not the Antichrist.”

“I’m not a saviour, either. But it’s too late to go back now.”

Loki tensed up. “What do you mean?”

I told him.

There was a very long pause when I finished.

And then he asked: “Why didn’t you choose the easier option of running?”

“Because…” I fumbled around for the right words. “You.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you.”

“Why?” He frowned, confused.

“Because I care about you, and this is our universe, idiot.”

“Oh. Right.” He blinked. “I care about you too, and for what it’s worth: I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not telling you everything, and for making you wait. I’m sorry for putting you through so much.”

“It’s okay, we’ll be okay.” I nuzzled into his side, finding comfort in his touch.

He pulled me in closer, saying, “I suppose there’s another way I could apologise.” 

I shivered, his voice going straight through me. “Yeah, how’s that?”

“Your wish is my command, I only wish to  _ serve _ .” The last word was whispered into my ear and I forgot how to breathe for a moment. A deep aching settled in the pit of my stomach, a yearning to feel alive again. To claim this moment as my own, no strings of Fate attached. 

“Kiss me,” I said, my heart in my throat.

He kissed me, slow and sweet and, if I had known any better, I would have thought it was reverent. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I tasted his lips on mine. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I’m fucking terrified.”

“Then let me distract you for a while.”

I nodded. “Yes, please.”

He brushed away my tears with the pad of his thumb. Such a small gesture, and yet it made my heart twist a certain way. “Very well,” he murmured, dotting kisses along my jaw. I let myself relax, give in to the touch I craved. He kissed his way further and further down my body. I was still clothed but I felt so vulnerable with his hand hovering over my waistband in an unspoken question. I nodded, mute with lust. “I want to feel you,” I said, “I want to feel your mouth.”

He smiled, eyes glinting in the soft light of the bedroom. He kissed my stomach gently before vanishing my clothes with a click of his fingers. They reappeared, neatly folded, on a nearby chair. “I hate it when you do that,” I said, laughing to disguise my glowing cheeks. 

“No you don’t,” he said, mouthing along the inside of my thigh. My scathing reply dissolved into a groan as he bit into the tender flesh there. He chuckled, nosing his way upwards. I closed my eyes, losing myself to anticipation. “You smell divine,” he said, and I whimpered, melting at the praise. “Oh, you like that, don’t you?” he said, barely moving. “It’s only human to want praise, to be adored.” He finally, finally, licked a stripe up to where I needed it most. I tangled a hand in his hair, urging him further. “Then praise me,” I said.

“You are so beautiful, so courageous,” he murmured into my thigh, “It is an honour and a privilege to call you my friend. I’ve never had a friend like you before.” He licked another stripe up my folds, sealing his words into my core. I bucked a little, a moan escaping my lips. “So delicious,” he said, and I knew he meant it. 

No matter how many times he did it, I could never get over how he went down on me like a starving man. How he treated my body like it was something to be savoured, and to be ravished. If you had told me that I was going to have a god prostrated in between my thighs, I wouldn’t have believed you. 

That’s the thing about being with Loki, ( _ Jesus Christ that feels so damn good— _ ) is that he always made me feel important. Whenever he listens to you, he gives you his full unabashed attention. It’s both terrifying and liberating. Sex was no different, it was calculated operation.

“You taste divine,” he said, kissing the delicate flesh down there, “I could do this all day, but—” Another nibble. “— we have places to be.” He bit down on my clit with devastating precision and I was bolted headfirst into an orgasm, writhing as he practically sucked it out of me. I was dimly aware of the desperate whines coming out of my mouth, but I was too lost to care. I just lay there like a starfish as I rode it out.

“Better now?” he asked, planting a kiss on my thigh.

I grinned and ruffled his hair. “Yep.”

He chuckled, shifting up to lie next to me. “Good. I only want you to be happy, you know.”

I didn’t ask him at what cost. I knew the answer to that and it kept me up at night. Instead I just smiled and tried to pretend this was a completely normal relationship. No matter how much I wanted to stay there, Loki was right, we had work to do. “So,” I said, “How do we find this Source?”

“Ah.” Loki paled, fidgeting with his hands. “I’m not entirely sure.”

I bit back a laugh at his mortified expression. “You don’t know?”

“I never said that! It’s just… hazy.”

“Did you not pay attention to that part of god school?” At his withering look, I quickly added, “Surely there’s someone who could help?”

Loki winced and gave a little cough. “Perhaps.” 

I blinked, expecting a retort to the god school comment. “Who?”

“Doctor Strange. And, before you ask, it’s complicated.”

“Are you embarrassed?” I asked him, my voice rising with incredulity.

“What? No. It’s just complicated.”

“Huh, okay then.” I didn’t believe a word. “I’d like my clothes back, if you’d be so kind.”

“Of course,” Loki said and waved them back on. Another wave and his own clothes straightened themselves out. “Can you walk?” he said, looking me over.

I wiggled my legs experimentally, and they wouldn’t lift off the bed. I frowned. “Nope,” I said. I really didn’t want to go back to using my chair at a time like this. I wasn’t ashamed of it, I had just seen the other side and it paled in comparison.

Loki gave me one of those looks that meant business. “Give me your hands,” he said. I raised an eyebrow but did as I was told. He took my hands in his, fingers brushing over my bracelets. “This is going to feel strange, but you just need to trust me.” I nodded, unable to look away from his piercing blue eyes. I knew better than to trust him completely now, but I could trust his power. It hummed along his veins and danced across his fingertips in a waltz of emerald and gold. “Close your eyes,” he said, “And try to relax.”

I closed my eyes.

And then it hit me.

Pure, unbridled power flowed from his fingers into mine. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t breathe, it felt like being plunged into an ice bath. The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention as I was swept along under the current. But I wasn’t drowning, I was  _ flying _ . “There we go,” he said when I opened my eyes.

“What the fuck was that?” I could feel the metal humming against my skin as I stood up on shaky legs.

“A boost.”

“Yeah, feels like it.” I resisted the urge to sprint laps around the apartment and walked, like a normal person, around the room. “Is this how you feel all the time?” I asked him, the words tumbling out of my mouth. 

“Sort of. I gave you a condensed dosage, you could say.” His expression was a mixture of vague amusement and intense scrutiny.

“Bloody hell.” I carded a hand through my hair, half expecting it to crackle with static electricity. “You gave me a magical espresso.” 

He gave a wry grin. “Don’t explode, I think we have company.”

He was right. Lucifer and Chloe greeted us in the lounge. “How much did you tell her?” I asked Lucifer. The poor detective looked shell shocked.

“Everything about you two.”

“Right.” I sat down next to Chloe, and tried my best to appear reassuring. “Here’s the plan—” I crossed one leg over the other, then did the reverse in an attempt to come up with a plan. ‘Don’t die’ was as far as I’d got when Loki swooped in. “Raven and I have to meet someone who will help us sort out this mess, it would be best if you stayed here—”

“I don’t need protection,” Chloe snapped, “I can handle myself.”

“Really? Do they teach you how to fight nightmare fuel at cop school?” Loki shot back.

“What makes you a hero all of a sudden? How can I trust you after what you’ve done?”

“Do you have any better ideas?”

“No, but—”

“Detective, please,” said Lucifer, holding his hands up in a placating gesture, “Loki may be the god of chaos, but this is his universe too. He’s not going to destroy it.”

“He’s telling the truth, Chloe.” I attempted to look reassuring.

“No one likes an apocalypse, Detective,” said Lucifer.

_ Understatement of the century,  _ I thought.

Chloe pinched the bridge of her nose. “So I’m supposed to believe you want to save the world—”

“The multiverse,” Loki corrected.

“Fine, the  _ multiverse _ , because — what? You’ll be bored?”

Loki shrugged, glanced at me, before saying, “More or less.”

“Look,” I said, “We don’t have time to worry about the technicalities.”

“Okay, fine,” Chloe said, finally relenting, “How can I help?”

Loki leant towards her slightly. “We need you to stay here with Lucifer and monitor the situation with the Breachers. If anything changes, anything at all, you need to contact us immediately.”

“Here’s my number,” I said, scribbling it down for her on the back of a receipt I found in my pocket. “And here’s some advice, don’t think about this too hard, it won’t do you any good.”

“I suppose that’s one way of dealing with it,” Chloe replied, a trace of a wry smile tugging at her lips. 

“From what Lucifer’s told me, you’re an incredibly capable detective. I’m glad you’ve got his back.”

She smiled, genuinely this time. “I do try.”

Loki twitched his leg besides me and I knew it was time to go. “Good luck,” Lucifer said as I got up, “Don’t do anything I would do.” There was something about him then, something so earnest and vulnerable. Face twisted up with concern — concern for  _ me _ . I crossed over to where he sat by the bar, heart in my throat, and kissed him on the cheek. It was chaste by our standards. That didn’t stop my stomach doing a little swoop as he squeezed my hand in response. “Don’t do anything stupid,” I said. A hand rested on my shoulder — Loki — and I knew it was time to go.

The first thing that struck me about New York was that you could tell that people  _ lived _ here, bustling to and fro amongst towering apartment blocks, jumping into yellow taxis, and rushing off to make the next deal. LA sprawled under the endless sun, hoping to be graced with opportunity, but New York seized it by the lapels and beat every last cent out of it. In LA, you were always trying to set up a facade, to be better, fitter, more beautiful — to be the next star. In New York, even the rats seemed to be on a caffeine high, probably rubbing their little paws as they struck another bargain behind the dumpsters. People lived and breathed in New York, LA was always a stepping stone for dreamers.

All of this, and more, was shoved into my face as we slipped into an alley opposite a building that simply  _ sang _ with power. Every brick, every crumb of mortar, every pane of glass, every beam, rivet, nail pulsated with something I couldn’t quite grasp. “That’s the New York Sanctum,” Loki explained, “It’s one of three that protect this world from unseen threats. It’s where we’ll find Strange.”

“Right.” I nodded, pulling my sleeves over my hands. I had become so used to sunny California, I shivered in the slight breeze. “What else do I need to know?”

“That’s all there is to it.”

I turned on him. “How exactly do you know each other?”

Loki’s eyes narrowed. “We just do.”

“Sure,” I muttered, walking into the street.

“Don’t you trust me?” he said as we approached the Sanctum. I didn't have an answer. The doors swung open before we even had a chance to knock. A man stood before us, his high-collared red cloak billowing out behind him. There was something otherworldly about him, with his razor sharp cheekbones and grey-blue eyes tinged with sadness. He wasn’t classically handsome, more postmodern handsome, all angles and planes. It was impossible to tell how old he was. True, grey hair flecked his temples, but there was hardly a wrinkle on his aquiline face. 

“Loki,” he said, “I thought I told you I’d kill you if I ever saw you on Midgard again.”

Loki gave a strained smile, before saying, “Regrettably, I need your help.”

“What have you done this time?”

“Nothing! For once, I’m trying to prevent the apocalypse. Hear me out, for old times’ sake?”

“What were those, remind me? The many, many times you tried to kill me?”

“I was referring to the more  _ pleasurable  _ ones, actually.”

_ Oh my god, they fucked.  _ The realisation hit me like a truck in a thunderstorm.

“That doesn’t undo all the damage you’ve done.”

“If you really have a grudge against me, I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific. We haven’t got all day,  _ love _ .”

That was my cue to step in. “Let’s stop there, before someone gets stabbed or incinerated,” I said.  _ How the hell had I become the sensible one? _ “We do actually need your help, Strange. That’s who you are, right?” He nodded, his face unreadable. “Whatever your history with Loki is, you have my word that there’s an apocalypse brewing and, for once, it’s not his fault.”

Strange gave me a searching look, weighing me up. “Why should I believe you?”

“You must know he hates asking for help. This is serious, surely you’ve noticed?”

He shifted, a trace of unease rippling through his face. “There have been… disturbances.”

“We can stop it, but we need your help.”

Strange was giving me this look as if I was a piece of data that didn’t quite add up. “Who  _ are _ you?” he asked, genuinely confused. 

“I’m Loki’s friend.”

“‘Friend’?” he echoed, eyes darting down to my wrists. “Where did you get those?”

“He made them for me.”

Strange’s eyebrow rose a millimetre. “Interesting.”

“Why?”

“You must have made an impact on him. Relics like yours are incredibly hard to come by, let alone create.”

“Do you believe me now?” Loki said, a smug grin about to break out.

“I believe your friend.”

“Raven,” I said, “My name’s Raven Montgomery.”

“Doctor Stephen Strange, at your service.” His eyes twinkled with faint amusement. “Follow me,” he said, turning on his heel with a majestic swish of his cloak.

* * * * *

There’s nothing quite like the smell of old books, it’s the scent equivalent of sinking into a warm bath. Shelves towered above us as we entered the library, overflowing with secrets I could only dream of. Each page a new journey into an unseen universe. Loki taught me all I knew about magic, but that was by word of mouth, no textbooks needed. There was something tantalising about seeing it all laid out in front of me, a buffet of words for me to inhale.

The library took up the whole of the top floor (at least), dotted with glass cabinets full of magical objects. Some looked like weapons, others clothes or armour, and some so obscure I could not even begin to guess their uses. I wanted to run around like a kid in a sweet shop, running my hands over everything I could reach. But I didn’t. I stood there, tapping my foot on the chequered tiles, trying not to gawp like an idiot. “Nice place you have here,” I said.

Strange quirked an eyebrow and I hoped it was a sign that he was warming up to me. “What do you need to know?” he asked in that smooth, level voice of his.

“We are looking for the Source,” Loki said.

“The source of what?” Strange asked.

“Ah,” I said, feeling sheepish, “Yggdrasil didn’t tell me that.”

Strange blinked. “Yggdrasil?”

“Surely you know of The World Tree, Doctor?” Loki ratcheted up the smugness again. “The Nine Realms, no?” Condescension bled into every word, he was enjoying this too much.

“Those are just folk tales.”

“And yet here I am, a living legend.”

“I think you’ve done enough talking for now, Loki,” I snapped. “Apparently my bracelets are linked to this Source. Yggdrasil called it her root. Is that any help?”

“Hm. Perhaps.” Strange muttered something else and started rifling through a pile of books.

A shadow scuttled behind the bookshelves. 

“Hey, do you have any pets, Strange?” Goosebumps blossomed across my skin.

“No, why?”

I gulped, I couldn’t get in enough air. “I think we were followed.”

“That’s impossible,” said Loki, “I shielded us. And this place is very well defended.”

Strange gave a wry smile from his corner, and flicked another page.

My hands were starting to shake now. “Can’t you feel it?”

“Feel what?” Loki frowned, his bravado slipping away. 

“The cold,” I said. “Exactly like the morgue.” It rippled over my skin in icy waves, sank into the pit of my stomach like a lead weight. I wanted to run, run far away, but my feet were too heavy and any moment now the earth would swallow me whole— 

_ Skitterskitterskitter.  _

Even Strange looked up, eyes widening a nanometre. 

I backed towards Loki, who summoned his knives with a quick flick of the wrist. “Raven, get behind me,” he said. But I was too busy staring at a fuzzy patch of air by the shelves to my left. 

It moved.

Strange saw it too and lashed out with a whip of golden sparks. It struck, twisting around seemingly empty air. He yanked it towards him. It didn’t budge. The room got colder and I felt Loki’s magic coil up like a viper. 

Strange tried again.

No luck.

“That normally works,” he muttered. He was stuck.

And that was when the static in the corner decided to reveal itself as a Breacher, shattering Strange’s spell into ashen shards, right as he pulled again. He tumbled backwards with the momentum, a blur of shadows springing over him. His cloak attempted to bat it away, but the shadows dissipated at its touch. He didn’t get up.

A blink and it was in front of me. It was far more solid than the one I saw before.  _ You look like some sort of satanic gecko, _ I thought as it sped toward me, skin swirling under my gaze like oil on water. Spines ran across its back, twisting into dark vapour. Loki pulled up a wall of energy and it slammed straight into it. I couldn’t breathe as its claws slowly, slowly sank through. I was going to die. Everyone was going to die. I had failed. The universe was doomed.

Loki grunted, trying to keep up the shield as the Breacher scrabbled against it. I had an idea. It could either be brilliant or stupid, and I was going to find out. “Bring it down,” I said.

“What, are you  _ mad _ ?” The irony of that statement did not escape me.

“Bring down the shield and I’m going to hit it really hard.”

“With what?”

I clenched my fists white-knuckle-tight, feeling the burn of magic surging through me. “Everything.”

Loki wavered, his face glistening with sweat. He staggered back, the shield falling despite his best efforts. I stepped forward to meet the Breacher and swung a fistful of light into its face. It let out an almighty screech as it was hurtled into a table, breaking it in half. It lay there, face sliding out of corporeality. The smell of charred flesh wafted up from its burn. It tried to dissipate completely, but to no avail, it’s half-melted skin stayed visible.

I walked over to it, heart in my throat. Strange groaned from his corner, gaunt and pale. I turned to Loki and the Breacher sprung at me, snarling like a rabid dog. Needle sharp claws swiped at my throat and Loki flashed to my side, pulling me back. He tore the thing off me and plunged a knife through its neck, spraying black ichor everywhere. I doubled over, gagging at the stench. My eyes burned and my lungs burned and I wanted to crawl into a hole and never leave.

But I staggered over to Strange, hoping, praying he wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be dead, he was the Sorcerer Supreme for fucks’ sake. I nudged him with my foot, and was greeted with a wheeze-cough-moan. “I’m fine,” he croaked. 

“You look like death warmed up,” I said, pulling him to his feet. “I’m fine,” he said, more to himself than anyone else. “I know where you need to go,” he continued. “The Genesis Cluster.”

“Yeah?” I said, hoping to sound curious rather than clueless.

“Here, I’ll show you.” And he walked towards a table covered in what seemed to be maps, some new, most so old they were falling apart. Gold threads criss-crossed over them, shimmering under his touch. Everything was connected to everything else, a tapestry of the universe. “Ley lines,” I said.

Strange gave me an appraising nod. “Energy channels,” he corrected. “And not just limited to Earth, they stretch over the multiverse connecting points of power. One of our oldest texts says they all link back to one singular point of creation.”

“The Big Bang?” I hedged.

“Precisely.” I resisted the urge to punch the air. Strange continued, “We call this interdimensional crossroads the Genesis Cluster.”

“I prefer Yggdrasil’s Root,” Loki said.

Strange’s eyebrow twitched. “Anyway, I have an artefact that will help you find it.” He traced a circle of sparks mid-air, reached through, and produced a couple of brass L-shaped rods. They were engraved with sigils I couldn’t understand, and hummed faintly in his scarred hands. “Dowsing rods, really?” said Loki with a dismissive huff, “Those were what peasants used to find water. Absolute nonsense, of course.”

“Well, I’m not a peasant and we’re tracing energy signatures, clear?”

Loki shut up.

My phone rang.

“Hello?” I said.

Chloe’s voice crackled down the line. “It’s Lucifer,” she said.

“Bloody hell, what’s he done now?”

Her voice broke, and it wasn’t the signal. “He’s gone.”


End file.
